Annotating

We make annotations for viewers that already know a lot about a show or movie, but want to know more. If a newbie to a show or a first-time watcher of a movie wants generic background info then they can head to Wikipedia or IMDB. Here, we want to wow even the die hard fans of the show/movie with everything we write. This means that an unannotated line is better than an uninspired or uninteresting annotation.

-- leaving a line unannotated is better than a filler annotation. This means avoid boring annotations like simply explaining which actor went on to play each character, unless there's an interesting backstory behind the casting.

Genius Beta

For a long time, the only way to annotate was to create a new Genius page. But the launch of Genius Beta changed things...forever. Now instead of spending hours re-formatting scripts and other texts from existing sites, simply type "genius.it/" in front of the URL and annotate directly on that page.

Scripts/Screenplays

The question you should be asking yourself when debating between copying a script onto Genius or taking things off-site is whether or not it has a chance of generating traffic here. If it's a major movie like The Godfather, Inception, or Taxi Driver, it's worth putting in the work because you know there will be a group of users ready to upvote, pyong, and annotate once it's here. But, if it's a cult classic that few people have heard of, you may be better off annotating it off-site. Exception: Individual scenes. Even if it's from an obscure movie, it's worth adding a short scene from a movie to the site and annotating it here.

Conclusion

While the goal of Screen Genius is very much related to the overall Genius goal to "Annotate the world", our true goal is simply to make heading to the Screen section of the site as enjoyable as possible. This means aside from revolutionizing how people look at TV shows and movies via annotations, we also want to to have the best arguments possible in the forums, schedule contests and other fun things whenever we can, and trick as many of you as possible into following us on Twitter and liking us on Facebook.

But seriously, hit up Heisenferg with any questions or suggestions so we can make this the best place on the internet for everyone between casual Netflix watchers and film buffs.

More on Genius

About “Screen Genius Guidelines”

So you want to get involved with the TV/Movie side of Genius, but don’t know where to start? Here are some tips on how to create some of the best content on genius.com